Fate Of Mack Transferees Will Be Decided By Jan. 1

Arbitrator Eric J. Schmertz yesterday promised a decision by New Year's Day on the fate of up to 100 unionized Mack Trucks Inc. employees wanting to transfer to Winnsboro, S.C.

In addition to determining their transfer eligibility, Schmertz, dean of a Long Island law school, will address wage and benefit issues affecting hundreds of additional Mack employees with ties to the United Auto Workers International.

Schmertz discussed his commitments at the conclusion of a three-day arbitration hearing here on complex labor disputes between Mack and the UAW. The hearing, which included four hours of testimony yesterday, stretched over several weeks.

Also yesterday the parties apparently reached an agreement that would allow Kim Blake, president of Local 677 in Allentown, to transfer to Winnsboro, according to UAW attorney Leonard R. Page.

Blake, who applied for transfer several weeks ago, did not say yesterday whether he would make the move. Nor was it immediately clear whether he would have to relinquish his elected status as Mack has insisted.

In a similar development, David Mann, an Allentonian working as a Winnsboro organizer for the UAW International the past few months, said yesterday he was accepted to work at the Winnsboro plant. He begins in January.

Winnsboro-related labor disputes between Mack and the union are numerous and complex. The parties have used a federal judge, two arbitrators and federal labor officials this year.

The primary issue before Schmertz focuses on the rights of Winnsboro transferees. Schmertz's decision will likely be a key factor in determining whether the four-month-old plant becomes unionized.

Representatives from both Mack and the UAW yesterday were optimistic about the arbitrator's decision.

Both sides traded jovial banter during breaks in the closed proceedings, held in the Center City offices of the American Arbitration Association.

At day's end, Schmertz said both sides agreed to submit to him by Dec. 16 written statements on their positions.

The arbitrator said he will rule on the major issue of worker eligibility by month's end. That issue has several facets.

One requires Schmertz to establish the legal closing date of plant 5C in Allentown. Mack declared the plant closed on Oct. 23, imposing a deadline for all transfer decisions.

By that date about two-thirds of the plant's 1,800 workers had been laid off or reassigned. However several hundred stayed behind about a month for close-down and clean-up duties.

Despite Mack's deadline, the UAW has maintained that its members could wait until the end of the close-down period before submitting their transfer decisions to the company. Employees working at northern Mack plants receive about double the pay of those in Winnsboro. Mack has declined transfer requests filed after the company deadline.

Schmertz's decision on the 5C closing date could increase the number of union members seeking a transfer over unemployment.

Additionally, the arbitrator has been asked to judge the eligibility of several groups of workers who applied for a transfer but were deemed ineligible by Mack. That process involves sifting through contract documents.

Jack Derry, a UAW International vice president, said Schmertz's decision will affect about 100 union workers. Carol Mager, a Mack attorney, put the number at half that amount.

Schmertz also will decide whether he has jurisdiction over two additional labor issues involving wages and benefits.

One involves a union request to have nine workers fired atWinnsboro reinstated. The second is a union claim that its members are entitled to benefits - including severance payments - the company offered to management.

Mager, of Mack, said the company believes those issues are separate from the transfer dispute and should be argued before a new arbitrator.

Schmertz, dean of Hofstra University School of Law, became involved in the Mack/UAW dispute when a previous arbitrator quit over a technicality. Schmertz is being asked to clarify the decision of that arbitrator as well as a previous decision of his own.